Anonymous touches the Untouchables

Hackers working for Anonymous have hacked US government computers in multiple agencies and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago.

The Feds claim that Anonymous exploited a flaw in Adobe ColdFusion software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December. They then left "back doors" to return to many of the machines as recently as last month. Investigators are still gathering information on the scope of the cyber campaign, which the authorities believe is still going on.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz' chief of staff, Kevin Knobloch, the stolen data included personal information on at least 104,000 employees, contractors, family members and others associated with the Department of Energy, along with information on almost 2,0000 bank accounts.

The hacking was linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident indicted on October 28 for allegedly hacking into computers at the Department of Energy, Army, Department of Health and Human Services, the US Sentencing Commission and elsewhere. Adobe spokeswoman Heather Edell pointed out that the exploited programs were not updated with the latest security patches.